Chapter 18

Elise Stanton had been taken aback when Rory invited her to Luv Entertainment to talk. She’d always wanted to tour the place where porn was made, so she agreed.

The entrance looked like any other business. The woman at reception called up, and another girl, Sarah, came down to escort her upstairs. When they got to his office, Rory was on the phone. He motioned for her to take a seat while Sarah left.

“Sounds good. I’ll see you Friday,” Rory said and hung up.

“What do you do here to warrant an office?” Elise asked as her curiosity got the better of her.

Rory handed her a card saying he was a talent agent.

“I told my dad that I was going to get a summer job, and he rejected my ideas. He gave me this one to help my stepmom find new actors. I do a lot of the busy work and sometimes do an initial interview with the talent,” Rory explained.

“I’ve fantasized about doing porn, but I was always afraid of the stigma that would come with it. Plus, my husband might object.”

“If I remember right, he’s not a bad-looking guy. Maybe the two of you...” Rory said.

She laughed at his suggestion.

“If you knew my husband...” Elise began and then stopped herself. “He wouldn’t want any part of making some sort of sex tape with me.”

She saw that Rory had caught that but was glad when he didn’t ask more about her husband.

“You didn’t come here to talk about porn. You said you wanted to fill me in on The Valley,” Rory said.

Elise gathered her thoughts before saying anything.

“I know you’re new here, and I doubt anyone has offered to give you the lay of the land, so to speak.”

“I didn’t know who my dad was until he appeared after my mom passed. I’ve been rather overwhelmed to find out where he lives and all the rest,” Rory said, waving his hand to indicate the porn business.

“Has he told you how he made all his money?” Elise asked.

“I assumed it was from his business.”

“Let me give you a bit of the history of Summerlin so all this makes sense,” Elise said.

Rory waited for her to figure out where to begin.

“Howard Hughes died in the mid-seventies. His heirs set up Summa Corporation to manage his assets, part of which was the land on which Summerlin sits. In the late eighties, they created a master plan to develop the area. Summerlin Land Management, or SLM, purchased large tracts of land from the Summa Corporation, which they used to build on.

“During the nineties and two-thousands, Summerlin was rated the fastest-growing community in the US. Then there was a financial downturn. SLM had leveraged their business using bank loans, with the expectation that the growth would continue. When it slowed, they were forced into bankruptcy.

“Your dad and Jack Whitman bought SLM’s holdings for pennies on the dollar. From the start, the two men disagreed on what they should do with the land. Jack wanted to sell off most of it to finance his construction company.

“Tyler refused to sell, saying that real estate was cyclical and prices would come back. The rumor is that Jack told Tyler that he had no idea what he was talking about and to stick to porn,” Elise said.

“That would piss my dad off,” Rory guessed.

“It wasn’t long after that they decided to go their own ways. On the day they dissolved their partnership, they met at a bar with all the deeds. Summerlin is divided into three associations: North, South, and West. The way the story goes, they flipped a coin to see who went first and then began to pick. Tyler ended up with their holdings in South Summerlin while Jack got the ones in North and West,” Elise said.

“South is where the downtown is,” Rory said.

“That’s crucial because a few years after the split, Summa Corporation came to Tyler because they were going to build an enormous commercial project. They needed one of the tracts of land he owned, and instead of selling it for market rate back then, he leased them the land. That steady cash flow was what gave your dad the capital to do several other projects that account for much of his wealth.

“One of the offshoots of that was that Jack used to own your home. His short-sightedness found him short on cash, and Tyler offered to buy your house from him. It was seen in the community as a big f-you because Jack had bragged about the mansion to everyone. When Tyler moved in, he told everyone that he had to remodel it,” Elise shared.

Rory nodded his understanding.

“I appreciate the history, but what does this have to do with The Valley?” Rory asked.

“The Whitmans are your next-door neighbors. Their oldest son, Elon, is going to college at Stanford. The next oldest is a daughter, Georgiana—everyone calls her Gigi—who’s a senior this year and probably the most popular girl at your school. She dated a guy who went off to Harvard. I doubt they’ll end up doing the long-distance bit.

“Then there are the twins, Jean-Paul and Gordon, who are your age. They’re identical and get off on fooling people, especially girls, as to which is which. They’re two sick puppies who should have been drowned at birth,” Elise said, letting her feelings for the bastards show through.

“I honestly thought the other house in our cul-de-sac was vacant. Where have they been?” Rory asked.

“Jack’s parents own a cabin in the Utah mountains they go to each summer. They usually stay for a couple of months. I would guess they’ll be back in a few weeks,” Elise answered.

“I take it you don’t like the twins.”

“They’re on the water polo team with Chad, and the three of them are best friends.”

She could see Rory was starting to put it all together. It was bad enough that their fathers were at odds, but Rory had kicked the shit out of Chad. There was little chance he would ever be one of their favorite people.

“Why do you hate the twins so much?” Rory finally asked.

“My brother had one of his parties, and a neighbor called me to go over and shut it down before she called the cops. I found my brother passed out when I got there, so I kicked everyone out. When I turned off the music, I could hear guys laughing and a girl crying. I found the twins having their way with a girl from a neighboring school,” Elise said.

“And...” Rory said, recognizing there was more to the story.

“They tried to rape me.”

Rory got out of his chair and pulled her up into a hug as Elise felt the tears begin to flow. She’d never before told anyone what had happened. She shared the whole horrible affair with Rory. He didn’t say a word but didn’t let go, either.

When it was all done, she pushed him away so she could gather herself.

“Have you told your husband?” Rory finally asked.

“My husband wouldn’t care. He hasn’t divorced me yet because he works for my father and would lose his job.”

“Is he insane?”

The look on Rory’s face made her smile because his words told her she was desirable.

“He’s gay ... well, bi, really, but he has a boyfriend. He was the water polo team captain, and the rumors about what they do when alone are all true.”

“Sorry, but I haven’t heard any rumors,” Rory admitted.

“‘In a pinch, any hole will do’ is the joke. Water polo players act like they’re God’s gift to women. He certainly had me fooled, but my husband confirmed they did ‘team building’ stuff when he was in school. I suspect that it still goes on.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Rory asked.

“Just so that you understand what you’re dealing with when the twins come back. They’re the sort of privileged pricks who people think of when they rail against the one percent. They’ve never been told ‘no’ in their lives, and the rules do not apply to them, which they take full advantage of. So, if they think of you as the enemy...” Elise warned.

“Do you really think it’ll come to that? I mean, I’m just the new kid. I wasn’t around while all that stuff between my dad and theirs was going on. Besides, Chad jumped me, and I just finished it,” Rory said.

“You’ll find that appearances matter here. Word is out that you kicked my brother’s ass, and he won’t let it go, no matter what my dad says. And next time, you’ll be taking on the twins as well.”

She was taken aback when Rory just shrugged and nodded his understanding.

“Good to know. Thanks.”

Elise took her leave, having warned Rory about the twins. What surprised her was that her warning about the possibility of violence hadn’t seemed to bother him. The corners of her lips crept up as she imagined Rory exacting some street justice for her. Elise’s brother and his friends were going to find out that their usual bullying ways might be met with much sterner stuff than the average Valley kid had.

Rory had a night to sleep on what Elise had shared with him. He decided to just wait and see whether or not she was right about the twins being a problem.

Today was a big day. Marcus had sent him a message that said he’d been cleared to work out at the gym. They were meeting to do some sparring before Rory had to go to work. Later that morning was his scene with Danica, then after work, he had his first date with Summer.

When Rory arrived at the gym, word of Marcus’s return had gotten out, and the place was full of well-wishers. Chet Wilkes, the owner, was holding court.

“We want to welcome back Marcus Birney...”

Rory tuned him out and went to the locker room to get changed. When he came out, Juana was waiting for him.

“You missed it.”

“What happened?” Rory asked.

“Birney fired Chet in front of everyone. He said you should never have been matched with him, and because of that, he didn’t want Chet as a manager.”

“Oh, boy,” Rory worried.

If that had happened to Chris, he had no doubt that he would have kicked Birney out of his gym. Rory was worried he would get the boot as well.

West spotted Rory and motioned him over.

“My dad wants to have a word.”

Rory looked at Juana, and she just shrugged as he was led to the office.

He could hear raised voices inside. West knocked.

“Come in,” Chet barked.

“It was your job to know what quality of fighter you were putting me in the ring with. You told me I could easily handle the Walsh kid,” Marcus argued.

“West was having his way with him, and you consistently get the better of West,” Chet fired back.

Marcus turned to Rory.

“In a fight, could you beat West?”

“I’d be the underdog because of his experience, but in the end, I would win,” Rory said.

“Bullshit!” West said.

Rory shrugged.

“I would just use one of my gaming moves and knock you out,” Rory joked.

“If my boy Rory can knock West out, you void my contract. If West wins, I’ll stick with you for now,” Marcus said.

Rory held up his hands.

“Hang on. You want me to fight West? I don’t see the upside for me,” Rory said.

“We’ll work together to prepare for fights,” Marcus offered.

Rory nodded his agreement and then turned to Chet.

“What do you want?” Chet asked.

“West will help Juana prepare for her next three fights,” Rory said.

“Let Marcus out of his contract,” West said to his dad.

“Suck it up and wear a cup,” Chet said to his son and then turned to Rory. “Deal.”

Rory had no doubt that Juana would nut-punch West when she got the chance. He was always on her about her dirty fighting, and she would get retribution.

Everyone in the gym had heard the arguing in the office, so they were curious when they saw the four of them come out and head for the practice cage. As Rory and West donned their gloves and headgear, no one said anything. Chet brought them together in the center of the ring.

“You both realize this isn’t a normal sparring match. This will go until either there’s a submission or one of you can’t continue,” Chet said.

“I won’t hold back. If you want to call it quits, no one will blame you,” West offered.

“Thanks,” Rory acknowledged. “I appreciate the offer, but I want you to give me your best.”

West looked sad but nodded his understanding. They were sent to their corners for a moment before Chet waved them out.

“Fight!”

Chet trained most of the fighters in the gym, so they were supporting West. Only Juana and Marcus were yelling encouragement for Rory.

He brought his hands up as West closed in. West came out throwing bombs that had Rory bobbing and weaving. Bigger guys always thought they could pummel smaller ones, but bigger wasn’t always better in martial arts.